Bethoron

I will make war on Judas and his companions who scorned the king’s command.” And again a strong army of ungodly men went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.

When he approached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company.

But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, “How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today.” Judas said, “It is easy for many to be hemmed in by the few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few.

It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven.

But we fight for our lives and our laws.

He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them.” When he had finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him.

They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.

Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them.

[dramatic music] So what is this place Beth Horon? Well, Beth in, in Hebrew means the house of, and Horon is the name of one of their gods.

And they called Horon, this god, the lord of the clouds.

Hmm.

And you can go through history and archeology and you find that this god Horon is captured and it's in falcon form, eventually will be kinda morphed into the Egyptian god Horus as well.

But the miracles don't stop there.

All right, so they've been decimated as they're traveling south from Beth Horon, trying to escape to Azekah.

And I want you to see that on this map as they're coming down from Beth Horon, to get to Azekah they have to go through the territory of one of their greatest cities that's called Beth Shemesh.

You remember what Beth means in Hebrew?

The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon.

Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them off all the way down to Azekah and Makkedah.

And they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah.

And the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the sword of the Israelites.

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel.

Verse twenty.

As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim- To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands, Kibzaim with its pasture lands, Beth-horon with its pasture lands, four cities.

And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands, Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands, four cities.

And out of the tribe-- And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands, two cities.

The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel so that Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon.

Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.

As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged herself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.

Uh, none of them are gonna be able to stand against you." So they came out against these kings, and they went to the aid of the Gibeonites.

And, um, we read in verse 10, "The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel." So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon.

Israel then pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and, uh, cut them down all the way from Azekah and Makkedah as they fled before Israel.

From there, the boundary passes along southward in the direction of Laz, to the shoulder of Laz, that is Bethel.

Then the boundary goes down to Ataroth-Adar, on the mountain that lies south of lower Beth Horon.

Then the boundary goes in another direction, turning on the western side, southward from the mountain that lies to the south, opposite Beth Horon, and it ends at Kiriath Baal, that is Kiriath Jerim, a city belonging to the people of Judah.

This forms the western side, and the southern side begins at the outskirts of Kiriath-Jerim, and the boundary goes from there to Ephraim, to the spring of the waters of Naphtoa.

Then the boundary goes down to the border of the mountain that overlooks the valley of the Sun of Hinnom, which is at the north end of the valley of Rephaim, and it then goes down the valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jebusites, and downward to Enrogel.

They captured another 10,000 and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them off, dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.

Meanwhile, the hired troops that Amaziah had sent home raided several of the towns of Judah between Samaria and Beth Horon.

They killed 3,000 people and carried off great quantities of plunder.

When King Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought with him idols taken from the people of Seir.